56 characters whittled down to three upcoming figure designs

Starting in February, Bandai and Megahouse ran a fan election to determine the next Gintama figure in their premium, female audience targeted GEM line. 56 characters were divided into four electoral wards, which were eventually whittled down to one king (or queen - Kagura) and two runners-up (a second version of Hijikata Toushiro and Kyuubei) who will be receiving figures.

The original brackets were:

Ward 1

Ward 2

Ward 3

Ward 4

Some previous GEM Gintama figures have included:

The next Gintama figure will be antagonist Kamui, due in June, 2012 for ¥7,600 ($90).